Duality
by Akela Victoire
Summary: Two worlds, two kingdoms, two choices. Malcolm, Roxy's oldest child discovers that he is not just heir to his mother's future kingdom, but is heir to the man he never knew was his father's kingdom as well. The choice is not that simple however, as both realms have their own enemies and wars to fight and making his father's identity known would not help matters...
1. The Unknown Father

Holy Crap! _Another_ next-gen fic?

_YES. _Another next-gen fic. This one however, is _completely unrelated_ to **_Game Changer_** though. If you haven't read that one, feel free to as well!

I decided to post this today the 28th January, 2014 since it is the ten year anniversary of Winx Club. It might have gone downhill since Nickelodeon got hold of it in my opinion, but I celebrate all the good parts.

**_I hope you all enjoy this one!_**

* * *

"Roxy, are you even listening to me?"

"I uh... what? I'm sorry, Mother. What were you saying?" The pink-haired woman tucked the cell phone she had been staring at into her pocket suddenly as her dark-haired mother stopped walking down the long hallway alongside her.

"Roxy, you have been rather distracted all day. I was just telling you about suggestions that the Council had for celebrating the secondary heir to Tir Nan Og's throne's birthday after yourself. Malcolm will be turning eighteen in a month's time after all..." The older woman gestured to a large, framed photograph on the wall of a tall, lean dark-haired young man with blue eyes behind a pair of thin-framed rectangular glasses.

"Yes. He's gotten to this stage of his life so fast... Him and Tatiana both, since she'll finally be hitting the double figures this year..." Roxy smiled briefly at the thought.

"Yes. _Indeed._ They are both lucky that our inheritance laws are not as old fashioned as some monarchies are, otherwise neither of them would be able to inherit since they were both conceived and given birth to out of wedlock..." Morgana frowned slightly.

"I know that, Mother. Mistakes were made in the past when it comes to them and their circumstances of birth, but I'm being a great mother to them aren't I? And a good Crown Princess otherwise?" Roxy's tone was cool.

"Yes you are, but you do realise that some other royals will look on him as lower because of that? And the fact that no one know who his and Tatiana's fathers are?" Morgana pointed out, gazing at another photo on the wall, this one displaying a photo of a girl with curly blonde hair just past her shoulders and eyes the same shade of blue as her brother's.

"Well I know who their _father_ is. As in _one._ For _both_ of them. And what do I care about those other royals? Malcolm and Tatiana are both mine, that can't be disputed. They are my children and my heirs no matter what." Roxy rolled her eyes. "Besides, haven't "illegitimate" children been able to inherit the throne on some of the major magical planets before? So why should this matter?"

"It matters because we have only relatively recently rejoined the magical dimension and besides you and your children, there have not been any born heirs to Tir Nan Og's throne in centuries, ever since the Wizards of the Black Circle waged their campaign of destruction against us..." Morgana pointed out.

"At least your son will have willing and ready allies in Solaria and Andros at the very least. Princess Astoria and Prince Duncan are good friends with him and can certainly help guide him if he decides to study there once he is finished with High School back in Los Angeles." The former queen continued.

"He shows no interest in going to study at any of the schools in Magix, Mother. He's aiming for Ivy League schools back in the U.S. and with his grades in school and his royal status, he's sure to get in. I mean, I teach him not to flaunt his title about unnecessarily, but I'm sure that many schools there would want to have the honour of having an actual American-born royal walk their halls..." Roxy pointed out.

"That is true, but he also needs to further his magical education. You, me and your aunt do our best to teach him magic well, but both Nebula and I would feel his potential would be better fulfilled if he studied somewhere like Red Fountain for instance or perhaps even Oskuria College..."

"He specifically told me that he doesn't want to go Red Fountain. Red Fountain is a school for future warriors. Malcolm is not interested in becoming a warrior or soldier of any kind. He just wants to be a good ruler and help with Tir Nan Og's rebuilding process that is still going on even after twenty five years... As for Oskuria College... He likes the idea of there, but he prefers to stay here on Earth..." Roxy gazed out one of the high, arched windows lining one side of the hallway, briefly admiring the beauty of the realm she would someday be Queen of and her son would eventually become King of.

Morgana sighed. "Your mind is mostly elsewhere today, daughter dear. Go on back to Los Angeles. I have business with Nebula in regards to celebrating Malcolm's birthday, among other important things..."

"You're right. My mind is elsewhere... Sorry Mother. We should probably try finishing off this conversation another day..." Roxy pulled out her phone and glanced at it again.

Her mother raised an eyebrow. "Very well. I will hold you to that." The older woman walked away as Roxy began going through her text messages and came up on one in particular.

_"I'm just reminding you about our little meeting tomorrow night. I called you about it last week, remember?"_

Roxy frowned as she typed a reply.

_"How could I forget a meeting with you? Especially as it concerns who it does, after all these years?"_

She made it to her own personal quarters within the palace before the reply came.

_"I'm trying to do the right thing here, Roxy. It should never be too late to do this for them- if they want it."_

_"Too little too late. Too little too late. Regardless of the circumstances. I was ready to, but you weren't and I wasn't about to stir the pot without the assistant chef nearby, so to speak."_

_"At least promise me you won't immediately dismiss me out of hand when I see you tonight."_

Roxy sighed as she typed her last reply before turning off the phone.

_"Only if you don't spout off BS meaningless platitudes."_

Putting it back into her pocket, she went to freshen up before returning to her home and her children.

* * *

Malcolm Klaus, Prince of Tir Nan Og, American high school student and resident of Los Angeles, California, sat up in bed suddenly, running his fingers through his dark hair, looking dazed.

"That was just a dream... Thank goodness..." He breathed.

Swinging himself out of bed, he stretched and yawned a bit before beginning to get ready for the day.

Pulling the curtains that hid the doors to his balcony from view, he basked in the morning sun for a few minutes before heading to his large, walk-in closet to select his attire for the day.

Once clean and dressed, he headed for the stairs to go find himself breakfast. Even though his family was literally royalty (something his schoolmates and acquaintances from this city and its environs envied), his mother insisted that they all live as close to normal as possible.

He scoffed at the notion.

_"Not even this giant house is normal. We're not normal people and we never will be normal people however much she tries..." _He thought. _"Still, I do like not being surrounded by servants wanting to do everything for you all the time. Even some royals like doing some things on their own..."_

He glanced down the long staircase.

"Ah what the hell. I'll just take a shortcut." He shrugged, before a silver light flashed around him briefly and he swung over the side of the rails, doing a somersault and landing perfectly on his feet, seeming completely unperturbed at the fact that he just landed from several feet high.

He quickly set to work in the kitchen, rummaging around to see what was available for eating.

Once he was done, he pulled a stool up to the island counter and began digging in.

Sometime later, he heard more footsteps coming down the stairs, but didn't look up.

"Malcolm dear, are you doing anything this afternoon?" Roxy asked as she greeted him in the kitchen, rummaging around for breakfast, Tatiana close behind her.

"Well... no. I was going to go out with Lydia, but you know what became of that earlier this week..." Malcolm frowned at the thought.

"Oh... Well, I need you to take your sister out for a few hours after school." Roxy opened the refrigerator door and snapped her fingers, causing a bunch of grapes in there to float over to Tatiana, who snatched them out of mid-air and promptly began wolfing them down.

Malcolm looked up from his plate of French toast topped with berries and whipped cream.

His mother was doing her best to hide it, but he could detect a hint of unease in both her tone and her body language.

Her movements were less... _natural_ looking and though you couldn't hear it unless you were specifically listening for it, his mother's voice had risen in pitch, like he noticed it tended to do when she was stressed or otherwise upset about something.

"Any reason in particular?" He asked casually, twirling his fork idly between mouthfuls of breakfast.

"Oh... A political meeting of sorts. A ruler of a kingdom in the Magix dimension asked for a private meeting with the Crown Princess of Tir Nan Og..." Roxy shrugged.

"But mommy, don't you normally hold those political meeting thingies like that in Tir Nan Og itself?" Tatiana piped up through mouthfuls of fruit.

"This one is different, dear. Anyway, Malcolm, I need you and Tatiana to make yourselves scarce. Go see a movie, eat dinner, go to the zoo... _again... _Whatever." Roxy buttered her toast a little more aggressively than she normally would have.

"Ooh! Ooh! Can we go see Grandma and Grampy Klaus up in Gardenia then?" Tatiana asked eagerly.

"I'm sure they'll be glad to see you two again. They and your great-aunt were asking about you when I went to Tir Nan Og yesterday..." Roxy said. "Malcolm?" She turned to him.

"It's a three hour drive one way and I haven't quite gotten teleport spells mastered yet..." Malcolm pointed out.

"Then go pack your bags now and you can drive up there after school and spend the whole weekend." Roxy suggested.

"Yay!" With her mouth still full of food, Tatiana sprinted out of the kitchen.

"All of this because some ruler of a kingdom is coming to visit you? Mother, Tati and I are used to this. We're all royalty here, your mother and aunt are royalty, you're friends with the Winx and their spouses, which includes several royals and nobility members... Why do you so blatantly want us out of the way?" Malcolm raised an eyebrow.

"Never you mind that." Roxy said in a tone that left no room for argument and Malcolm wasn't stupid enough to try. His mother was a force to be reckoned with when she was angry. "When you finish your breakfast, go on and get ready for school and pack your things to go visit your grandparents. I have to go get ready for work myself..."

* * *

"Hey, Tati, have you noticed anything off about our mother lately?" Malcolm asked as he drove his car to Gardenia, his sister in the back seat.

"Mom seems a little... angrier than usual lately. I heard her on the phone last week. I didn't exactly hear what she said (and I think spells had something to do with that!), but she sounded _really_ mad then..." She said, pausing between mouthfuls of chocolate chip cookies to answer her brother.

"Huh. Maybe it's not anything for us to really worry about. Maybe she just doesn't like dealing with this King or Queen person she has to meet with. Maybe that call was linked to it. And maybe... I'm just over-analyzing things again. If it's important enough, she will tell us, right? She doesn't hide important information from us..." Malcolm said, more to himself than his sister.

* * *

"Roxy?"

"In the living room..."

Roxy didn't move from her armchair in the living room when she heard Sky's voice suddenly in her house.

_"You're late."_ Roxy pointed out the clock above the doorway that the Eraklyonese king had just entered.

"I had to cover for myself. No one must know I was here tonight..." Sky explained.

"Oh excuses, excuses. Why are you really here? I'm not letting you touch me like that again..." Roxy folded her arms and glared at him as he took a seat across from her.

"I didn't come here for that Roxy. We agreed to end that a long time ago, remember? I am here to talk about Malcolm and Tatiana. My children. _Our children._"

"It's been almost eighteen years since Malcolm was born, almost ten since I gave birth to Tatiana, almost eight since we agreed to end our affair. Tell me: why do you want to talk about them now?" Roxy raised an eyebrow.

"It's been years, Roxy. My own wife cannot give me the heirs I want..." Sky started, but Roxy cut him off.

"Oh! So finally want to talk about Malcolm and Tatiana because your wife can't give you any children, but I did?" Roxy scoffed.

"I... I have been thinking about it for some time now Roxy... I want to acknowledge them both as my heirs. Malcolm and Tatiana should be my heirs."

Roxy's scowl intensified, which was something Sky never thought possible in the twenty five years since he had met the Crown Princess of Tir Nan Og.

"_You..._ you want to _what?_" Even though she didn't shout, Sky still winced at her tone.

"I want to acknowledge them as heirs to the throne of Eraklyon. I want to have a legitimization ceremony for them. I want to do what's right for them. I want to admit my faults. That I'm a human who has made mistakes. How can I be an honourable king if I refuse to acknowledge my children as mine?" Sky asked.

"Took you long enough to develop your "honour." Roxy scoffed.

"How does that Earth saying go? "Better late than never?"" Sky asked.

"Not when it comes to _children,_ Sky! Not when it comes to children. _My_ children in particular!" Roxy screeched. "Besides, how would we decide which child inherits which throne? You are King of Eraklyon. I am Crown Princess of Tir Nan Og. We both need heirs to our respective worlds and if you think for one moment that I'd ship either of them off to Eraklyon with Bloom as a stepmother and all the scandal this will provide for gossip papers both on Earth and the different planets in Magix, then you are much more deluded than I thought. Perhaps you aren't fully recovered from that bout of amnesia that you had back in my first year at Alfea... " The animal fairy sneered.

"I thought that as two grown adults, we could discuss this maturely. Clearly I was wrong..." Sky remarked dryly.

"Well considering the times we were alone together as "two grown adults", particularly in two notable instances..." Roxy inclined her head towards the large framed photo of herself, Malcolm and Tatiana taken at Disneyland a few years before on the shelf just behind her. "...I think it's time for you to go before we end up adding _another_ baby to this whole mess..."

"But why don't you understand? I'm trying to do what's right for both Malcolm and Tatiana! They deserve to know who their father is, after all this time!" Sky exclaimed angrily.

"_Exactly!_ Why after _all this time? _Why not then? Why wait until now? Is it just because Bloom can't have kids that you want to take mine away from me and officially declare them your heirs? Actually admit that you're not as perfect as you think you are because you cheated on your wife?" Roxy said nastily.

"I'm not going to take them away from you, Roxy! Besides, they're not only your kids, Roxy. They are mine as well. I wanted to do this for years, even before Bloom and I found out she couldn't have children!"

"Oh really? You certainly didn't act like it when I told you I was pregnant with Malcolm. And then I actually carried on with you until about a year or two after Tatiana was on the scene. Having an affair with you was the biggest mistake of my life. Yet out of that mistake came two wonderful children that will remain heirs to _only_ Tir Nan Og. I'm not going to ruin that for them and upset their lives like this. I'm not a naïve young woman trying to find herself anymore, Sky. I think it's time you realized that." Roxy turned her back to him. "You need to leave. I'm expecting a call from_ my _children soon since they should almost be in Gardenia by now." She said curtly.

"They're not just _your_ children, Roxy. You couldn't get yourself pregnant, even with magic. I'm trying to do what's right and you won't listen to reason. At least think about it. Even if they don't want to be acknowledged officially as my heirs, they at least deserve to know the truth. I'm tired of trying to be a father from behind the scenes." Sky pressed a button on the silver bracelet on his wrist and a portal opened up in front of him.

"No promises." Roxy snapped.

She sunk into a nearby chair as the King of Eraklyon disappeared into the portal.

"What the hell did I get myself into? All my mistakes are coming back to haunt me... I really love those two kids of mine, but if I let Sky do what he's asking to... all our lives will go completely upside down... And the Winx... what will they think of me? They helped me so much all those years ago... especially Bloom!" Roxy put her head in her hands and sighed.

"The time is going to come where they'll have to know soon, but even after all these years, I don't know if I'm ready for that even now. I know I should be woman enough to admit that I was wrong. It's very hypocritical of me to tell Sky to grow up and yet I don't..." She groaned, rubbing her forehead, which had started to throb.

Her cell phone rang from somewhere in the house, startling her out of her thoughts.

"And that should be the very same children calling that Sky and I were just arguing about..." Roxy got up to find her cell phone.

"HEY MOMMY!" Tatiana's loud voice almost bowled over her mother.

"Ouch! Hey Tati! How are you?" Roxy tried to sound peppier.

"Great! Malcolm and I just got to Grandma and Grandpa's house! Grandma's going to take me out for ice-cream later and Malcolm's going to the Music Bar with Grandpa to hang out for a bit!" Tatiana said excitedly.

"That's great sweetheart. Have fun!" Roxy smiled to herself at hearing how happy her daughter sounded.

_"I need to go have a drink or something and try to think about what Sky proposed. As much as I would like to, I can't just dismiss it out of hand..."_ She sighed and leaned against the wall, allowing herself to sink to the floor as she ended the call.


	2. The Birthday Gala

"Hey man. Looking forward to that big party of yours this weekend. Want anything from my future kingdom?" The holographic image of a light-brown skinned, blue-eyed, brown-haired young man hovered over Malcolm's phone as he sat with in on the balcony of his bedroom.

"Get rid of that stupid hair of yours and that would be a good enough gift for me, Duncan." Malcolm teased.

"I'm not cutting my hair. I like it like this!" Duncan exclaimed, making a show of running his fingers through his long, shaggy hair.

"Astoria likes it like that too, doesn't she?" Malcolm grinned.

"You know it, man!" Duncan grinned back. "Anyway, you said your mom invited some friends of yours from Earth as well as Magix to this thing?"

"That's right. It's been too long since I've seen you all. I'm glad she invited you all for it. It'll be good to see you all in person again..." Malcolm smiled.

"You'd see us more often if you came to Magix to study. I mean, Evanne's going into Sophomore year, Elodie and Nathan are going to be Juniors, Sophia's going to be a Freshman, Astoria and I will both be Seniors... You'd have plenty of company from both Alfea and Red Fountain!"

"...yeah, sure. I'm going to be a Freshman here on Earth, hopefully at an Ivy League school." Malcolm said.

"Psh. You're Crown Prince of Tir Nan Og and you do really well in school. They can't turn you away and they'd be nuts if they did. No man, you need to come to Red Fountain with me. You'd just be a Freshman, I know, but I could still show you the ropes..."

"...I'm not interested in what Red Fountain teaches. I'm perfectly fine with honing both my magical and mental skills here." Malcolm insisted.

"Nothing's going to change your mind, is it?" Duncan asked.

"It would take something major for me to change my mind." The prince of Tir Nan Og nodded.

"Then here's for something major." Duncan raised an imaginary glass.

"Please don't. If we have the luck of our mothers, we'd get more than what you just asked for..." Malcolm shuddered at the thought.

"It's been like what, twenty five years since anything like that happened? What's the likelihood of it happening now?" Duncan pointed out.

"A valid point." Malcolm acknowledged.

"Wow. Duncan's making a valid point about something? I'm surprised..." A female voice said before a teenage girl with light brown skin, dark blue eyes and shoulder-length maroon braids pulled back into a ponytail appeared next to Duncan, shoving him away and completely ignoring his objections to being shoved.

Malcolm chuckled. "Hi Evanne. Looking forward to my gala/birthday party thing this Saturday?"

"Yup! Got my outfit and its accessories picked out, I know what hairstyle I'll be rocking and everything. Unlike my brother's girlfriend... Astoria called me this morning to ask my opinion on at least a dozen outfits!" Evanne said, half amused, half annoyed.

"Good old Astoria..." Malcolm laughed.

"Don't make fun of Astoria!" Duncan exclaimed, finally rejoining his sister in the projection.

"We'll make fun of her if we damn well please, Duncan. Anyway, we like her, remember?" Evanne pointed out.

"Yes, but still..." Duncan grumbled.

"Don't bother with another one of your spats, please." Malcolm checked his watch. "Anyway, mom is busy so I'm going to go pick up Tatiana from her ballet lesson. I'll see you two Saturday." Malcolm ended the call and got up to stretch, before making his way down to the garage to retrieve his car.

* * *

"I'll see you all on Monday, everyone. Claire, you're in charge until I get back. I'd invite you all as well, but _someone_ has to hold down the fort here while I go take care of Princess/Mom duties..." Roxy shrugged off the white coat that she wore as a vet at her own veterinary clinic, Magic Paws.

"No problem, Dr. Klaus. I wouldn't be much good at that mingling with royalty thing anyway..." Claire, a blonde-haired, grey eyed woman a few years younger than her answered, as some of the other staffers there nodded in agreement.

"You mingle with _me _every day, don't you?" Roxy began packing up her personal items into her oversized olive green handbag.

"But that's _different._ Here, you're just Dr. Roxy Klaus, veterinarian, friend to all animals. There, you're Crown Princess Roxanne of Tir Nan Og..." Someone else, this time a man older than her with salt-and-pepper hair spoke up.

"I guess I see your point. Still, I'm lucky that I can still work doing what I love, while being Crown Princess. And when royal duties call, I have a great staff here to look after things when I can't." Roxy snapped her bag shut and flung the coat over her shoulder.

"You flatter us." The man said, smiling slightly.

"Not just flattery. Truth, Roger..." Roxy smiled back and waved to them as she left the building and went out to her car.

She'd just locked herself in the car, tossed her things into the backseat and was ready to start the ignition when her cell phone rang.

She narrowed her eyes at the phone, but after a few seconds, decided to answer it- without the video projection in case anyone was watching.

"Yes, _Sky?_" She asked flatly.

_"Listen. I know that Malcolm's birthday celebration is this Saturday and..."_

"Yes, you and Bloom can still come, but if you think that you can spill the beans about..." Roxy started.

_"No, no! Not like that, no! I want to give him a present. A letter if you will. With a choice. I want him to choose if he wants to know me as his father. Can I trust you to let me give it to him at his party?" _

Roxy remained stony faced and silent for almost a full minute.

_"Hello?"_ Sky called out, unsure if she was still there.

"_I..._ Does Bloom know about all this? What you intend to do? Hell, does she even know about us? Malcolm and Tatiana?" Roxy sighed.

_"She... I admitted that I had an affair that produced two children, but not their identities, who or where their mother is or how long the affair went on..." _Sky sighed.

"I did think about it since our last in-person... _discussion_ a month ago but... I guess we couldn't hide it forever, could we? Though how we managed to hide our affair for eleven years while it was going on and the eight years since that, especially since we are who we are..." Roxy rubbed her temple, feeling a headache coming on.

_"...well? About my giving Malcolm that letter?"_ Sky asked again.

"_I'll _take it and _I'll _give it to him _after _the party. Fairy's promise. " Roxy relented after another period of stony silence. "You do know that he's going to hate us for all this deception, right? Tatiana too, since she deserves to know as well..."

_"Of course. I was thinking that once Malcolm knows, you and I could then let Tatiana know separately..."_

"I... I need to get home. I had a long day at work and then this... and the arrangements for Saturday..." Roxy groaned.

_"I don't blame you. It's only morning in my part of Eraklyon and besides this, I also have three different meetings scheduled that are sure to be fun..."_ Sky said sarcastically.

"It's all our fault, you know. Those two are innocent in all this. They didn't ask to be born under such circumstances..." Roxy said sadly.

_"I know. Malcolm will soon be an adult in your world and I know that I should have manned up and been there from before. As for Tatiana, I can only hope she can see me as her father for the rest of her childhood and beyond it..."_

"_Indeed..._ I really have to go home now." Roxy hung up before Sky could speak again.

Putting away her phone and taking another few minutes to compose herself, she finally started up the car and drove off.

* * *

_"Hello, hello!"_

Princess Astoria twirled the Sceptre of Solaria in her hand as she appeared in the courtyard of Tir Nan Og in a flash of golden light.

"Hey, Tori. How are you?" Malcolm stood there with his mother, grandmother, grandfather and great-aunt.

"Oh, I'm fine. Anyone else here yet?" Astoria flicked a strand of her long, dark brown hair out of her face and slipped the Sceptre, now in its Ring form, back onto a finger on her right hand.

Malcolm chuckled. "You're the last one to get here, actually..."

Astoria blinked.

"Oh well. I guess I really do have a problem with being late..." Her silver-blue eyes shone as she giggled.

"Oh no. You're not late. You're right on time actually. The others were just early..." Malcolm chuckled again.

"I see... Oh! How rude of me! Greetings, Your Majesties, Sir..." Astoria offered a slight bow to Roxy, Morgana, Nebula and Rick.

"Good evening, Princess Astoria. Malcolm's other friends from Magix are all based in the East Wing for this weekend..." Nebula said.

"That sounds lovely..." Astoria smiled.

"Malcolm will show you there. There is still much to do before tomorrow evening..." Nebula led her niece, sister and brother-in-law off.

"So, what's the schedule like? What are we doing?" Astoria asked as they stepped on an energy disc that took them up to the entrance.

"We're just hanging out, having a bit of fun and such before the big day tomorrow. Last I left them, Duncan, Lucian and some of my Earth friends were having a dance-off, Evanne, Sophia, Elodie and some of the other girls were clustered around some fashion/celebrity magazines from both Magix and Earth, and Nathan and the few sane ones were pretty much just sitting back and watching the madness unfold..." Malcolm chuckled.

"Sounds like a great time. Sophia's sisters aren't coming? I didn't hear you mention them..." Astoria wondered.

"They're not coming until Tecna and Timmy bring them tomorrow. They're not on break like you are, remember?" Malcolm said.

"Neither is Sophia. She hasn't started at Alfea yet, remember?" Astoria pointed out.

Malcolm shrugged. "Maybe it's because they're younger, I dunno... Tatiana gets along with them well enough though. I'm sure she'll be glad to see them when they do get here. Anyway, are you ready to enjoy your last free weekend before everyone has to go back to school in Magix?"

"I sure am! This weekend is going to be great!" Astoria exclaimed as they walked through the halls of the palace until they reached a pair of large, arched mahogany doors with stained glass windows.

Malcolm swung them open and gestured for Astoria to go in before him.

"Welcome to the East Wing, Astoria. I'll show you to your room for the weekend. Sophia is on one side and Evanne is on the other, so your weekend is sure to be _fun._" Malcolm teased.

"Joy..." Astoria grumbled.

A few minutes later, they had found Astoria's room, put her luggage in a corner and headed back out again.

"And here we are..." Malcolm swung open another door and the noise hit them as soon as they entered.

"Hey Malcolm! Welcome back!" A silver-bluish black haired young man with dark blue eyes, pale skin and a small goatee appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

"Welcoming me back to my own place, Lucian? I see how it is now..." Malcolm grinned.

"Don't mind that clown. He doesn't know any better." Lucian's twin was identical to him except his hair was slightly longer, messier and he was beardless.

"And Nathan thinks he's so smart..." Lucian rolled his eyes.

"Neither of you are smart. Case closed." A girl with wavy ginger hair and turquoise eyes approached the group.

"Ah, Sophia. The baby of the Winx Kids!" Lucian teased.

Sophia rolled her eyes. "I'm not the baby. Kendra is. She and Alanis are younger than me, remember?"

"Yeah. but you're the youngest here right now. Only 15 and not even a Freshman at Alfea yet. He kinda has a point..." Malcolm pointed out.

"Spoilsport..." Sophia grumbled. "Just you wait until I get to Alfea. I'll learn to hex you to oblivion!"

"Wrong school, Sophie dear. That's an ambition worth of Cloud Tower..." Astoria said loftily.

"Maybe I'll make the switch then!" Sophia muttered.

"It isn't that easy once you've already gained a fairy transformation, is it?" Malcolm asked curiously as he, Sophia, the twins and Astoria walked along.

"No, but it _could_ be done. Anyway, I'm perfectly fine with being a fairy, really. I still say that learning hexes would be fun though..." Sophia said.

"Yeah, I can see them coming in useful in a fight..." Malcolm nodded in agreement.

"That fairy form of hers though... The boots don't even match!" Astoria exclaimed.

"Drives mom and dad up a wall, with their OCD tendencies and everything..." The ginger-haired girl grinned.

"Hey, my good man!" Duncan approached them, Evanne close behind him.

"Duncan! Good to see you in person again!" Malcolm high-fived the Prince of Andros.

"Forgotten about _me,_ have you?" Evanne stood nearby, watching the two princes greet each other.

"Why no, my dear princess. How could I forget such a lovely lady as yourself?" Malcolm kissed her hand, causing her to giggle and others around them to wolf-whistle.

_"That's one smooth bastard..."_ Malcolm heard Nathan's (or was it Lucian's?) voice among them.

"Oh _come on_, everyone! It was just her hand!" Malcolm rolled his eyes.

"He's lucky that's _all_ he kissed..." Duncan joked.

"Oh hush, Duncan..." Evanne waved him off.

"Well then, my good man. I've finally seen you, but Astoria is _finally_ here and she and I have some... _catching up_ to do..." Duncan reached for Astoria's hand and they walked away together.

Sophia soon wandered away, leaving only Malcolm and Evanne together.

"I have yet to see Elodie now. Where is she hiding?" Malcolm looked around.

"Girl with the dark blue hair, black bangs and green eyes?" A brown-haired girl walking past asked.

"Yeah. I mean her, Jessica..." Malcolm nodded.

"She and a few others were headed for your library, last I heard..." Jessica said.

"Well, we're not going to get her out of there anytime soon..." Malcolm grumbled. "Thanks, Jess."

"No problem, Mac. Now, I have a script to go read. I still can't believe that I got a main role on a television show!" Jessica reached into her satchel and pulled out a bound stack of paper.

"Yeah, good luck with that..." Malcolm said as she walked off.

"One, "_Mac."_ Really? Two, a lot of people from this Los Angeles place seem to want to get into the entertainment business..." Evanne observed.

"First off, Mac is just a nickname the people from school gave me. Two, Los Angeles and nearby Hollywood are pretty much the top entertainment capitals of the United States of America, if not Earth..." Malcolm pointed out.

"Oh yeah. Duncan and I should come back to Earth and play tourist there sometime then..."

"And I'll be glad to welcome you back. Now, let's see if we can go find Elodie and drag her away from the books, shall we?"

"I enjoy a challenge..." Evanne smiled as she allowed Malcolm to lead her off.

* * *

The Grand Hall of Tir Nan Og was alive with activity as various employees of the Royal Court bustled about, getting it ready for the event it was to host the next evening.

"My grandson is eighteen. I almost cannot believe it..." Morgana commented as she took in the preparations along with her husband, daughter and sister.

"Neither can I. It feels like just the other day that you and the other trapped Earth Fairies were freed and our family was made whole again." Klaus squeezed his wife's hand briefly.

"A family which came as quite the surprise to me, but family nevertheless..." Nebula remarked dryly.

"I am proud of my son. Malcolm may only be eighteen, but he has a good head on his shoulders. I have done my best to ensure that being royal doesn't go to his or Tatiana's heads . In the years to come, Tir Nan Og will need well-rounded, intelligent leaders who will know good advice when they hear it and hopefully follow it, after all. Overconfidence and arrogance will not help matters." Roxy's eyes followed a group of men as they began moving in and arranging furniture on the far side of the Hall.

"Tatiana is coming along well in her magic lessons with me as well. She's going to grow up to be quite the fighter!" Nebula said proudly.

"You haven't been putting my granddaughter through too much, have you?" Klaus raised an eyebrow at the Fairy of War and Peace.

"_Too much?_ Ha! She's not quite ten years old yet and she's got the hang of quite a few basic spells! I can't wait until she's older and has gained her first fairy form and can do more advanced things!" Nebula laughed.

"Should I be concerned for her?" Roxy raised an eyebrow at her aunt.

"Knowing your aunt, yes." Morgana said.

"And there's the Grand Staircase that we'll all be entering down tomorrow. I hope I don't end up tripping down it like I did for that wretched Princess Ball years ago..." Roxy frowned at the memory as she looked at the large, centre staircase that rested between two smaller ones on either side with mahogany rails and gold plaiting.

"After how many years, I hope you would have improved in your gracefulness..." Morgana looked at her daughter.

"_Anyway..._ I know the guest list was long finalized, but I want to go over it again, just to be prepared. I know my college roommates and their families, the Winx, their spouses and some of their other relatives will be there..." Roxy counted them off on her fingers.

"Well, Queen Genevieve of Telum will be in attendance, along with her daughter Crown Princess Gabrielle..." Morgana said.

Roxy and her father groaned in unison.

"Tell me: Why did we invite _her_ again? Genevieve, I mean. I don't mind Gabrielle..." Roxy asked.

"I know she can be downright... _unsettling_ at times, but her planet will be a valuable trade partner in the future..." Nebula pointed out.

"She can't be _that_ valuable..." Klaus muttered.

"Such is the life of us royals. Dealing with other royals we'd rather not deal with at all..." Roxy sighed.

"Anyway, things here seem to be going well enough. We should go check to see if our garments are ready from the dressmakers and tailors..." Nebula led them out of the hall.

"You do that. I need to go check on Tatiana. She was _supposed_ to be finishing up her Charms Theory homework and if she's like any normal nine year old, she'll still be groaning about having to do it..." Roxy separated from them.

* * *

"Glad to see you out of the library at last..." Astoria, with her hair up in a bun held back by a silver tiara embedded with diamonds, walked alongside Elodie in the Grand Hall. The Solarian princess wore a form-fitting long-sleeved, floor-length gown with diamond embellishments under the bust and around the waistline and silver stilettos were her footwear, of a height that made Elodie wonder how she was actually walking in them without stumbling.

"I don't spend all my time in the library!" Elodie tucked a few strands of dark blue and black hair behind her ear.

"Yes, but you _do_ spend a significant amount of time in there. More than any _normal_ person would!"

"Oh shut up, Astoria..." Elodie grumbled, pulling up her wrist-length black gloves, smoothing down her strapless, knee-length, layered dark green dress with black trim and reached down to adjust the straps on her black, low-heeled peep-toe shoes.

"Next semester, you're going to get a _real_ social life. My roommates would be glad to help you out with that. Maya, Natasha and Cecilia want to help..."

"Wait..." Narrowed, olive green eyes met blue ones. "Your... your roommates are in on this?!" Elodie exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Oh yeah. Cecilia especially wants to get her hands on you and give you a full makeover. And you know how Lia is when she sets her sights on her goal..." Astoria said, waving her right hand causally, causing the gems embedded in her sceptre-ring to glisten in the lights above.

"_Cecilia?_ Oh, Dragon, no... I'm going to have to sleep with one eye open, aren't I?" Elodie sighed.

"You sure are. Cecilia isn't all there..." Evanne walked over to them, making the cuckoo sign.

The Princess of Andros's hair was down and curly and she wore a floor-length, sleeveless, halter-top light blue gown with a sheer, white shawl around her shoulders pinned together with a pearl pin. Simple-elbow-length gloves adorned her arms and matching pumps adorned her feet.

"Alfea sounds like so much fun! I can't wait until I start there in a few months!" Sophia squealed, seemingly appearing out of nowhere and startling the other three girls.

"Dragon, Sophia! Don't _do_ that!" Evanne exclaimed, annoyed.

"But... it's _fun!_" Sophia re-adjusted the black headband that was holding her hair back since it slipped when she jumped at them. The ginger-haired girl wore a dark purple knee-length dress with black broad straps, black waistband, matching heels with bows on the toes and matching gloves that almost came up to her shoulders.

Elodie sighed. "Sophia, when you get to Alfea, the other girls aren't going to appreciate that if you keep appearing out of nowhere, like that..."

"I don't appear out of nowhere. I can't teleport, silly! Astoria's the only one of us who can!" Sophia waved her off. "Anyway, what were you saying about this Cecilia?"

Astoria, Evanne and Elodie looked at one another strangely.

"... Astoria seems to think that I need a makeover and her roommates including Cecilia seem to agree with her." Elodie rolled her eyes.

"Why, Astoria? She looks fine!" Evanne exclaimed.

"Yeah, but she could look even better! All those plain clothes... And she has some _really_ nice legs. She should totally show them off more!" Astoria looked at the part of Elodie's legs that she could see.

"But_ I am fine _with my fashion sense! Besides if your fashion sense is anything like your mother's was that year when our moms dealt with Tritannus, then I don't need your help. My powers already come from plants. I don't need you to try making me look like a walking salad, providing a mobile buffet for the herbivores out there..." Elodie said flatly, making Astoria growl and the other two girls giggle.

"What's so funny over here, ladies?" Nathan, Lucian and Duncan approached the girls.

The Prince of Andros had his (usually) messy hair pulled into a neat ponytail and wore navy blue pants and matching vest over a white dress shirt while the twins wore matching dark grey suits with black ties.

"Woah. Aside from physical features, you two are actually matching!" Sophia looked them up and down.

"Why thank you. We do like to do that occasionally, you know..." Lucian said.

"So, where's the 'rents? Haven't seen them since we escaped..." Nathan wondered.

"Escaped? Escaped _what,_ exactly?" Astoria raised an eyebrow.

"Being roped into meeting some of the snootier royals present, especially as your mother was the one leading the charge. I mean, sure mom's friends with Princess Galatea, but she's cool..." Lucian explained.

Trumpets sounded as their players, two pairs of fairies, stood to either side of the grand staircase.

"Looks like the resident royals are about to put in an appearance..." Astoria turned in their direction, as did everyone else.

A man wearing a dark green dress pants, white ruffled shirt and a dark green bowler hat appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Introducing the Royal Family of Tir Nan Og: Queen Nebula..."

Nebula appeared at the top of the staircase in a square neckline, flowing-sleeved, shimmering black gown and wearing her royal crown.

"Lady Morgana and Sir Rick Klaus..."

Morgana appeared on her husband's arm wearing a cream-coloured one-sleeved floor-length gown while he wore a black tuxedo with a cream-coloured tie.

"Crown Princess Roxanne and Princess Tatiana..."

Roxy appeared, her hair in a chignon with two curls left loose, framing her face. Her shimmery, navy-blue mermaid style bustier gown was form-fitting and diamond earrings with matching necklace and bracelets accompanied it.

Her daughter wore a long-sleeved pink dress with a slight trail and her hair was in a half-up, half-down style with the top part of her hair in a bun and the rest of her hair in tight curls.

The older of the two surveyed the hall filled with guests, taking in various faces.

Stella was beaming at her and mouthing "You look fabulous!" from where she stood next to Brandon and her father King Radius.

Roxy smiled back and scanned the crowd some more.

Her best friend and college roommate Princess Krystal of Linphea waved to her from where she stood with her husband Lord Theodore of Graynor, their son Antonio and her mother Queen Panacea.

Tecna and Timmy stood next to Queen Juliana of Zenith, with two of their daughters Alanis and Kendra and Judith's own son, Raymond.

She looked around some more as she and Tatiana neared the last few stairs and saw _them._

King Sky of Eraklyon stood next to his wife, Queen Bloom, who looked lovely in a sleeveless, shimmering scarlet gown that had a slight trail behind it and a sheer black shawl wrapped around her shoulders.

She couldn't help but notice the... _stiffness_ between them.

Roxy's eyes made four with Sky's and she looked away quickly, glancing down at her feet.

She and Tatiana reached the bottom of the stairs and stood to a side with the rest of her family to await her son's entrance.

"... and Prince Malcolm." The announcer finished.

Trumpets blared again even louder than they did the first time.

When he appeared at the top of the staircase, there was more than one young woman in the hall that found themselves looking at him twice.

_"Can I just say that Malcolm looks handsome in that suit?"_ Evanne whispered to Sophia.

_"Yes, you most certainly can, because I was just about to say the same thing!" _Sophia whispered back.

"I can see it now: half the girls in here now want to be his queen..." Elodie rolled her eyes.

"Does that include you?" Nathan piped up.

Elodie glared at him.

_"I can certainly see why. I wonder who designed his suit..."_ Astoria thought.

Malcolm wore a swallow-tailed black jacket over a white shirt and black pants, a red sash around his waist and a red bowtie. His black shoes were so neatly polished that it would not have been impossible to see one's reflection in them and a gold circlet with rubies embedded around it adorned his head.

"Welcome, everyone and thank you for coming out this evening. Tonight will be... not just a celebration of me, but of this Kingdom as well. With all that out of the way, let's just enjoy the night, shall we?" He smiled.

* * *

"You did well, Malcolm. Not at all like the first time I addressed a crowd at my Princess Ball. And the fact that you didn't somehow manage to trip up the stairs while you were at it didn't hurt either..." Roxy grimaced at the memory.

"Well, it was only a few sentences and it's not like this was the official _"Acknowledge Malcolm As Heir"_ thing, right?" He shrugged.

_"That might very well not happen if your father has his way..." _Roxy muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Malcolm raised an eyebrow at his mother.

"Wait... I said that out loud?" Roxy's eyes widened briefly, but she quickly composed herself.

"Nothing to trouble yourself about, dear. Now, go on and find your friends. Tatiana here is clearly itching to find hers..." Roxy gestured to the little girl, who was craning her neck, trying to look around the dozens of people taller than she was.

"Okay..." Malcolm didn't quite believe her, but shook it off before going to mingle with the crowd.

Nothing was going to go wrong tonight, so he might as well go and enjoy himself. It was his birthday celebrations, after all...


	3. The Great Dragon Rescue

"Nice party, man. I'm really enjoying myself." Lucian said as he sat at a table with Nathan, Duncan and Malcolm.

"Thanks. I'll be sure to pass your kind words to the staff. They did the majority of the work, after all..." Malcolm smiled.

Just then, a loud burst of laughter came from a table some distance away, where Astoria, Elodie, Evanne, Sophia and a few other girls were sitting.

"What's so funny over there?" Duncan raised an eyebrow as he looked over.

"Don't interrupt the ladies when they're having their 'girl talk'. They _really_ don't appreciate that..." Nathan noticed that Elodie in particular, didn't seem to appreciate the 'girl talk', judging by the rather sour expression on her face...

"How do _you_ know that?" Malcolm raised an eyebrow.

_"I would rather not say..."_ Nathan said in a rush.

Lucian smiled a mischievous grin. "There's an interesting story behind that, really. Back home on Melody, we were working on a TV show- Harmony Vale..."

"Oh, I remember that! Was quite the hit for the three seasons you were on it and still is! I enjoyed your work on it, by the way..." Malcolm said.

"Well thanks. Anyway, we were on set and Nathan here decided to..."

"Don't you _dare_ finish that story!" Nathan growled at his brother.

"...and he decides to..." Lucian ignored him.

While Lucian was telling the story, Malcolm looked around the room.

Stella and Brandon were talking to Riven and Aisha at their table and they seemed quite entertained at _something,_ judging by their laughter.

Flora and Karel were coming back in from the gardens looking slightly dishevelled and suspiciously happy, which Stella seemed to spot and immediately waved them over to their table in a rather loud, animated fashion.

He also noticed that his sister and Kendra were going out into the gardens laughing as Alanis followed, close behind.

"...and then Sheila blasted him clear across the set and he landed in a box of costumes! That's not the best part. When he finally scrambled out, he was draped in a girl's sparkly ball gown!" Lucian snorted, causing Duncan and Malcolm to snort and laugh at the same time while Nathan scowled.

"How _is _Sheila, by the way?" Malcolm asked, once he caught his breath.

"Oh, she's fine. She's looking to take a bit of a break from acting herself and _finally_ joining me at The Golden Auditorium this year..." Lucian smiled.

"Lucian has a thing for her..." Nathan stage-whispered.

Lucian reddened. "I do not!"

"Oh yes you do! Ever since the last season we did on HV before you went to The Auditorium and I went to RF. I'm your identical twin brother. You can hide _nothing _from me." Nathan grinned.

"Sometimes, I _really_ hate you..." Lucian muttered.

"No you don't. You know you love me, bro..."

"Is this what it is like to have a brother?" Malcolm wondered.

"Don't ask me. I've only got Evanne and she's definitely a sister, remember?" Duncan shrugged.

Malcolm looked around and saw Alanis running back inside, alone. She had hitched up the skirt of her mint green dress so she could move faster.

She reached the table with Sophia and started talking to her older sister.

Judging by Alanis' body language and Sophia's apparent reaction to what she was being told as well as the other girls, Alanis was_ not_ being the bearer of good news.

"Gentlemen, I think we should go check on the ladies..." Malcolm inclined his head towards them.

"We probably should indeed..." Duncan was the first to follow Malcolm over.

"And... _and..._" Alanis was struggling to get the words out.

"Something the matter over here? Where's Tatiana and Kendra? I saw you go out into the gardens with them..." Malcolm said.

"They got carried off by a dragon!" Alanis wailed.

"They were _what?!_" Malcolm exclaimed.

"We were out in the gardens, just enjoying the flowers, plants and everything, you know? Tatiana was showing us around it. Those two were happy and laughing and I was just there to keep an eye on them. We had reached the far end of the gardens. Tatiana was just reaching for a flower to show us and... I tired firing energy blasts at it to get it to go away... But it just grabbed them and took off!" Alanis started to hyperventilate.

"Show us where it happened, Lan." Sophia said. "_Breathe._ We need to get Kendra back..."

"Okay..." Alanis led the way, her thick, magenta braid bouncing behind her.

"H... Here..."

Alanis didn't really have to say that since the area they were standing in was surrounded by crushed plants and bushes.

"Such beauty... Ruined..." Elodie said to herself quietly as she took it all in.

"I'm not magical so maybe my question will sound a bit stupid, but... Why did no one notice a dragon flying around this place, especially when it grabbed and flew off with two little girls- one of whom happened to be your sister and the other a daughter of a Winx Club member?!" Jessica asked Malcolm.

"That... is a good question, Jess..." Malcolm said, slightly distracted as he found strands of blonde hair on the ground.

"What do we do now?" Sophia asked.

"We'll go after the dragon and our sisters, of course. We have to hurry and get there before Tatiana and Kendra come to more harm!" Malcolm declared, letting the strands of hair he found fall through his fingers.

"We'll go find your parents and tell them!" Jessica and the other girls they'd been sitting with ran back inside.

"Thanks, Jess!" Malcolm called out as the brunette quickly disappeared.

The twins shrugged off their jackets and made them disappear, while Malcolm did the same with his jacket, taking the circlet off and wrapping it in the jacket before he did.

Astoria, Evanne, Elodie and Sophia quickly transformed.

Astoria's yellow top stopped just beneath her bust and hand dark gold straps and frills underneath it. Her miniskirt was dark gold with yellow shorts beneath and her dark gold stiletto boots went up above her knees. Gold gauntlets were around her wrists, a gold choker around her neck and three gold bracelets were on both her upper arms. Her hair now donned a gold headband and her hair was in a low ponytail pulled back by a gold band. The top half of her wings were triangular, the bottom half was rectangular and they had thick, gold outlining.

Evanne wore a blue mini-dress with one flowing-sleeve, with a string of pearls as the strap on her uncovered right shoulder. Pearls were around her waist, a pearl choker was around her neck and a pearl bracelet appeared on her right hand. Her hair went up into a braided afro with pearls at the end of each braid just before the afro began. Her dark blue boots with white platform heels stopped just below the knees and her wings were translucent, light blue and shaped like fins.

Elodie's hair became wavy and magenta pearl clips appeared on each side of her hair. The sleeves of her short-sleeved blouse were magenta with black trim and the chest line of the light pink top was black as well as three stripes on the front of her blouse which showed off her stomach. Her magenta mini-skirt had two layers of light pink frills around the hem and a thin, black sash was tied into a bow on the left side of her waist. Pink elbow-length gloves with black bands around the elbow formed, a black choker with a single pearl in the centre was around her neck and black, mid-calf, high-heeled boots were around her feet. Her wings were a translucent green and looked like simple leaves.

Sophia wore a red top that stopped a few inches below her bust with a grey stripe on top, connected to a strip of grey fabric that went up and around her neck. A thicker strip of red fabric went from her top to a silver belt with a circular buckle that went through black mini-shorts. Both her knee-high boots were flat-heeled, though the left boot was black and the right boot was red. Black wrist-length gloves formed around her hands and her hair was pulled into a high ponytail by a red and black band. Black-framed goggles appeared around her head and black and light blue butterfly wings sprouted from her back.

"Now what's your plan?" Alanis asked, not yet able to transform.

"Alanis, which direction did the dragon go in?" Malcolm asked back.

"That way..." Alanis pointed west.

"That direction is the way that the volcanic region is. Dragon's Hearth..." Malcolm whispered.

"Oh great! Now there's the double risk of them either being eaten or dropped into boiling lava!" Sophia exclaimed.

"We need an airship if we want to get there quick enough since you girls won't be able to fly that far, I can barely levitate and those other three can't fly at all..." Malcolm thumbed Duncan and the twins.

"If you can get that airship, I'll be able to fly it." Duncan suggested.

"Good. Astoria, you've only been there once. Do you know the Hangar well enough to teleport us there?" Malcolm turned to the Solarian Princess.

"Consider it done." Astoria activated the Sceptre.

"Alanis, go on back inside. We'll come back with them. Promise." Sophia hugged her sister and then watched as she ran off.

"Let's get going then!" Astoria swiped the Sceptre and they all disappeared.

* * *

Kendra came to and looked around.

And screamed when she realized where she was.

In the grasp of a dragon, several feet in the air.

Even if she did manage to get free of the dragon's grasps, she would still plummet to her death...

She looked across at the dragon's other front paw and saw her friend still unconscious.

"Don't worry, Tati. We'll get out of this... Somehow..." She said softly. "Our families will come after us..."

* * *

"I freaking _love_ this ship!" Duncan exclaimed as he sat at the controls.

"Yeah. Just remember _why_ you're flying it, brother dear..." Evanne reminded him from her seat somewhere in the back of the ship.

"Uh-huh... Duncan, what's that?" Sophia pointed to something on the radar.

"What's what?" Malcolm got up from his seat to take a look.

"I don't know... Hold on, it looks like it may be a dragon!" Duncan exclaimed.

"But is it _our_ dragon?" Nathan asked, crowding around the radar as well.

"I don't know about _that_ dragon, but I certainly know about this one!" Elodie pointed out the window.

"Oh my Dragon! It's a dragon! Dragon incoming!" Astoria freaked out.

"Activate the protective shield, quick!" Nathan's eyes widened.

Duncan pressed a blue button and the shield engulfed the ship.

"WOAH!"

Everyone was thrown off their feet or out of their seats when the dragon made impact with the ship's shield.

The ship spun around and around in the air throwing them from the floor to the ceiling and from side to side.

"My wings are fine..." Elodie groaned, rubbing them and flapping them slightly to test them.

"Your driving... flying... SUCKS!" Nathan complained from his spot on the floor, groaning.

"We got hit by a damned dragon! What the hell do you expect?!" Duncan shouted.

"Quit your squabbling and get this damned ship back on track! We've got two little girls out there to save!" Sophia screamed.

"Right. Sorry..." Duncan crawled back over to the controls and fought to bring it back to a level height.

"It's so dark out there... How are we going to see to find them?" Malcolm started to fret.

"_Hello?_ I'm right here. I draw my powers from a light source, remember?" Astoria pointed out.

"Yeah. The sun, not the moon..." Evanne sounded confused.

_"Thank goodness for that..."_ Elodie muttered darkly.

"Perhaps so, but I can still cast some sun spells at night and though I can't do very many, Grandmother Luna has taught me a few Lunar spells. I am _so_ glad that she did..." Astoria explained.

"Good. We're almost to the border of Dragon's Heath. The ship will have to be parked somewhere on the flatlands that surround it. We can track the girls from there." Malcolm said as he took in the night landscape below.

"I hear you. This look like a good spot up ahead to land?" Duncan asked.

Malcolm walked over and looked around a bit.

"Sure. Go ahead. Activate the protective shield as we land and leave it on. We want a nice, whole ship to fly back in, after all..." He instructed.

"What about weapons? We can't go down into this Dragon's Hearth place unarmed..." Nathan pointed out.

"FOUND SOME!" Evanne rummaged in a large, metal box near the back of the ship and pulled out a few.

"Here, dude. You should use an energy gun." Nathan took one from her and handed it to Lucian while taking one for himself.

"How do I use this thing?" Lucian turned it over in his hands.

"Here. Let me show you..." Nathan took it back.

"Evanne, any scimitars in there?" Duncan called back.

Evanne hovered above the box and rummaged further.

"Yep!" She called.

"Save it for me!" Duncan instructed.

"Malcolm, you're going to need a weapon too..." Evanne pointed out.

"I know... Let's see... Ah! Butterfly swords..." Malcolm drew a pair out and found a utility belt to tuck them into.

"Since when do you know how to use those things?" Nathan raised an eyebrow.

"One does not simply be related to Nebula, the Major Fairy of War and Peace without her trying to teach you something about weaponry and war..."

"Ah... Something I did not consider..."

"Coming in for a landing, ladies and gentlemen!" Duncan warned.

Everyone went to take their seats for landing.

It was a rather turbulent landing, but everyone survived it.

Though some were a little worse for wear...

"Next time, _I'll _fly the ship..." Nathan said, looking distinctly green as they disembarked.

"You most certainly will not. Now, what's the plan, Malcolm?" Duncan turned to him.

"Elodie," Malcolm turned to the blue and black-haired fairy. "can you sniff them out or sense a disturbance in nature around here that might lead us towards the girls?"

Elodie sniffed the air. "I can't possibly smell them over the scent of all this sulphur. I can barely smell myself! As for sensing a nature disturbance... I'm not nearly as good at it as my mother is... I'll ask the... _few_ plants here..."

Elodie knelt down and touched the ground.

She glowed a light green and her wings flapped slightly as she concentrated.

Everyone was completely silent as she worked.

"There is very little plant life that can grow in this area so their voice was weak, but... I got an answer. They tell me that a dragon flew over this very spot with two young fairies in that direction." Elodie pointed to her right.

"Let's get moving then!" Astoria activated her Sceptre and lit the way.

* * *

"Kendra, I'm scared... I wish my mom were here..." Tatiana whimpered as she and Kendra ran into a small cave that could barely hold them, barely evading a gust of flame from the dragon's mouth.

"Me too. I want my mom too... I don't want to be dragon food!" Kendra cried as the two girls held one another close.

The dragon's eye appeared at the mouth of the cave, looking directly in at them

The girls screamed and backed away further into the cave.

"I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die, _I don't wanna die..._" Tatiana chanted.

The girls screamed again when fire suddenly filled the cave, setting it on fire and trapping them further inside.

"No, no, no, no, no..." Kendra began to cry.

Just as suddenly as the flames filled the cave, so too did water, putting the flames out nearly instantly.

"Huh?" The other two girls' faces went from terrified to confused.

Three figures appeared outside the cave. Two winged females and a non-winged male, though they couldn't see their heads.

"Malcolm! You came to save us!" Tatiana cheered.

"And I brought along a few friends to help..." Evanne and Elodie's heads appeared alongside his.

"Come on! The dragon's being distracted!" Evanne beckoned and the two girls scrambled out.

In the sky above them, Astoria channelled silver energy through her staff that bound the dragon while Sophia did the same with her digital energy.

Nathan, Lucian and Duncan were fighting off wild, mountain lion-esque creatures around them.

"We've got the girls! Let's get out of here!" Evanne exclaimed.

She and Elodie converged to form a barrier that deflected every attack by the creatures.

Astoria and Sophia saw this and released their hold on the dragon, causing it to plummet into the ravine below.

Sophia flew as fast as she could towards them and grabbed Kendra, flying off with her and Astoria did the same for Tatiana.

"Morphix Discs!"

Evanne's spell made four discs of the versatile pink liquid appear and each male stood on one as they lifted off.

Just as Malcolm was to the other side of the ravine, the dragon flew back up suddenly, knocking him off his disc and sending him falling several feet below onto a small cliff.

Tatiana screamed. "Malcolm, no! My brother! Somebody save _him _now!"

* * *

Malcolm was disoriented from the fall. Groaning, he got to his feet slowly and looked around.

And started to panic when he realized where he was.

"Nope. Nope, nope, nope, nope..." He drew the butterfly swords and deflected a gust of flame narrowly.

"Some birthday party evening this turned out to be!" He exclaimed.

The dragon blasted one of his swords out of his hand.

He swore.

"Hang on, Malcolm!" Elodie flew down and grabbed him around the arms.

The dragon flew at them, nearly making Elodie lose her grip.

She was strong enough to carry him, but carrying him while trying to dodge or deflect the best attack attempts of a dragon was another matter entirely.

"Morphix Rope!"

Evanne formed a lasso around Elodie's waist and tried pulling her up, but wasn't strong enough so Sophia pulled her, Astoria pulled Sophia and Duncan pulled Astoria.

The dragon flew low over them, nearly making them all lose their grip.

Nathan and Lucian fired off blasts at it while Tatiana and Kendra ducked behind them.

The dragon sent a gust of flame at the Morphix rope, causing it to dissolve.

_"Crap!"_ Evanne's eyes widened.

Elodie plummeted, suddenly losing the support she had.

The dragon was about to send more fire at them when a blur of wings and Windriders descended into the ravine.

_"Stay away from our children!"_ Flora and Roxy cried out, firing off a giant convergence energy blast at the dragon.

It became even more infuriated and breathed a bigger gust of fire.

Sky flew in front of the gust on his motorcycle and deflected the majority of the fire.

"Roxy, Flora! GO!" He shouted.

Roxy grabbed Malcolm and Flora grabbed Elodie and quickly flew out of the ravine.

Elodie passed out and her fairy form faded away as her mother carried her.

"Malcolm, can you run?" His mother asked once they reached level land.

"Yeah, I think so..." Malcolm shook his head to clear it.

"Good. Run as fast as you can. I'll get your sister." Roxy grabbed the now catatonic Tatiana and flew off.

Malcolm focused for a brief moment, glowing silver. _"Speed of a cheetah..."_

The glow subsided and he glanced back at the ravine.

Bloom, Stella, Musa and Aisha were there with Sky, Brandon, Helia, Riven and Karel, holding off the dragon.

His mother, Flora and Tecna were already off with their respective daughters and the others were flying, running or riding off in the distance.

He took off behind them, catching up quickly thanks to his super speed.

* * *

"I know you all are tired, but I need to know _exactly_ what happened from your point of view. Perhaps then I can figure out _how_ it happened in the first place..."

Later that night, after most of the guests had gone home or slept in their temporary rooms in the palace, Nebula sat at the head of a table in what looked like a board room, talking to most of the older Winx children and their parents.

"Your Majesty, for us it started when Alanis came and told me about it. Astoria, Elodie and Evanne were at the table with me and I guess the guys saw us freaking out, so they came to see what was the matter..." Sophia started, sitting next to Tecna.

"That's right. Malcolm noticed and pointed it out to us, so we decided to find out what was going on." Lucian said, sitting with his brother and their parents, Musa and Helia.

Elodie took a sip of the herbal tea that her mother had brewed her before answering from her seat between Flora and Karel, who was rubbing his daughter's shoulder reassuringly.

"So Alanis took us out to the garden and told us the full story, showed us exactly where they were grabbed. You could tell. Broken shrubbery, scorch marks... _strands of ginger and blonde hair..._" Elodie shuddered at the thought.

"We came up with an initial plan. While we sent those who didn't have magic or couldn't use it much to go find our parents and so on, we decided to go after them. It's not like we could just leave Kendra and Tatiana out there. Not when the risk increased to them with every passing moment..." Duncan said, while Evanne nodded in agreement, Riven next to her and Aisha next to Duncan.

"And a good thing too. We _barely_ saved them from being roasted alive..." Evanne added.

"Malcolm came up with the idea to..." Astoria yawned. "...to get an airship from the Royal Hangar and fly it out to Dragon's Hearth. I teleported us there with my Sceptre and we took one over. When we were on board, he told us everything he knew about the region and Evanne managed to find some weapons for the guys to use. We got there in good time with... _relatively few obstacles..._" Astoria shuddered at the memory of the dragon colliding with the ship. Stella and Brandon put a hand on either of their daughter's shoulders.

"Elodie did a tracker spell, asking the few plants she had to work with about Tatiana and Kendra. It worked and we found them. We divided up to get the girls and hold off the dragon as well as some mountain lion-ish things we encountered. Just as we were almost home free, everything went completely south..." Malcolm shuddered at how close he and Elodie had come to being dragon food.

"At which point, our parents show up and helped us finish the job..." Elodie finished her tea.

"Well for having such a short time to act, you actually came up with a decent strategy and I'm proud of you, Malcolm. You and everyone else who helped." Nebula turned to her great-nephew.

"Thank you, but I still messed up near the end. I should have kept an eye out for the dragon or restrained it somehow until we were all safely in the ship or something..." Malcolm hung his head.

"Stop beating yourself up! You did well. Without formal warrior training, you led a relatively successful rescue mission! Tatiana and Kendra are here and alive because of that!" Sky said from his seat next to Bloom.

Roxy looked across the table at the Eraklyonese king, silent for a few moments before speaking.

"Sky is right, Malcolm. We might have come after you but judging by what you've all told us about what happened before we got there, Tatiana and Kendra would be _dead_ if you hadn't gone ahead!" Roxy exclaimed.

"Roxy is correct. Thank you. _Thank all of you. _I would rather not have had last evening marred by the deaths of our girls..." Tecna said, with Sophia half asleep on her shoulder.

Nebula nodded. "Indeed. Now, I know we all need our rest and you younger people have to go back to school... _tomorrow, _so you'd probably need today to sleep all you can. Go ahead and go on back to your rooms. I know all I need to know from you for now." Nebula motioned for them all to leave.

* * *

"Tatiana is all settled in and asleep..." Morgana and Klaus appeared in the doorway of the living room, where Malcolm was draped lazily across an armchair and Roxy was reading a book.

"Thanks, mom, dad..." Roxy hugged them. Even though she was an adult with one (young) adult child herself, she still appreciated her parents' hugs.

"No problem, Roxy. She'll bounce back. Tatiana has spunk. This incident might have spooked her, but she'll be back to normal soon..." Morgana smiled.

"You were brave out there, Malcolm. Don't think about what you did wrong, but what you did right. Remember that you saved your sister's and her friend's lives just by being there with the others..." Klaus said.

"You're right, Grandpa..." Malcolm got his own hug.

"We will see you soon. Tatiana's the only one of us who's gotten to sleep so far even with what she just went through..." Morgana opened a portal back to Gardenia and she and her husband waved to Roxy and Malcolm as they disappeared.

"I think it's time for us to follow their lead..." Roxy yawned.

"I agree with you there, Mother..." Malcolm stretched and followed his mother out the room.

"Well, Malcolm, I know that it was an... _eventful _evening for you..." Roxy said as she walked with him up the stairs.

"...it was even more eventful for Tatiana and Kendra..." Malcolm yawned.

"Indeed..."

They reached the top of the stairs.

"Wait, Malcolm." Roxy put an hand on her son's shoulder as he turned to go into his room.

"This... is for you." Roxy snapped her fingers and a large, purple envelope appeared in her hand.

Malcolm took it and looked at it.

"Thanks... I guess..." He said, putting it under his arm.

"_He_ asked me to give that to you... Try not to think of us too badly once you're through with it..." Roxy smiled at Malcolm weakly as she turned to head to her own room, without another word to him.

_"Why would I..."_ He thought as he went into his room.

He was tired, but something told him to stay up to examine the contents of the envelope he held.

Pulling his sheets up around himself, he propped up his pillows and reached for the bedside lamp, turning it on.

He inspected the envelope closer.

The back of it was sealed with red wax and imprinted with an impression that he guessed was made by a signet ring.

_"This impression... It's the crest of the royal family of Eraklyon. But... why would..." _

As he moved his fingers across the seal lightly, it glowed slightly and opened.

"Charmed specifically that it would only open for me..." He raised an eyebrow as he lifted out the single sheet of cream-coloured paper.

The texture was slightly ribbed, almost like the fancy sort of paper that people would print invitations to high-society galas on and was even slightly warm as if it had just emerged from a printer, though the text on it was written by hand in dark blue ink.

The writing was refined; well practiced, as though the person who wrote it had been trained in calligraphy as he himself was- at the insistence of his grandmother.

His own natural handwriting didn't look _nearly_ this neat though...

He settled in to read.

_" Dear Malcolm,_

_You've only recently turned eighteen, which I understand is the age of adulthood in your world, though justifiably, you had every single right to know what I am about to reveal to you in this letter long before now._

_Your mother was prepared to tell you all this, but me... I was afraid. Afraid of the consequences of my actions- even though they resulted in two wonderful, wonderful people being brought into existence. Try not to blame your mother too much. We share equal blame for this, though I refused to believe that for years and did not want to accept my half._

_You have already met me. Several times in fact. Just not in the role I should have. I did the 'fathering thing' from behind the scenes. Every year on your birthday, I would send you and your sister gifts. Roxy sent me a picture of you when you turned four. I had sent you a stuffed blue dinosaur with your initials on the bottom that was about three feet tall and nearly dwarfed you at the time, and a book about dragons, the closest magical equivalent. She told me that blue was your favourite colour and that you had an obsession with dinosaurs at the time. You seemed to love it, judging by that picture of you hugging it so tightly that you threatened to squeeze the stuffing out of it..._

_However, mere material gifts are not important. You are my son and I should have been a better man and a better father to you and Tatiana. I should have ignored the guaranteed gossip and detractors that I feared and done the right thing._

_Which is why I want to do this. I want to officially acknowledge you and your sister as heirs to the throne of Eraklyon. If you and Tatiana want it, then your mother and I can work out the finer details of who inherits which throne._

_I know that this may seem sudden and that several negative emotions must be going through your mind towards your mother and I- especially me- as you read this._

_I know that there is much more to be said than what can fit in a mere letter. I won't try to fit it all here. I know that I can't do that. I want to meet you in person. As your father. Not just as the King of Eraklyon, but as a man who is trying to make things right for his children._

_Please, give me a chance to do this. Even though you or your sister may not want to become the next King- or Queen- of Eraklyon, at least let me talk to you in the role you never knew me as. Your father. You do not have to rush. Take the time to think things over and contact me in your own time at my personal communication channels. It doesn't matter which. Roxy will know how to, of course. Ask her to help you._

_I ask you again, please let me talk to you as the father that I should have been. I do not expect you to forgive me, but you at least deserve to know everything._

_Happy Belated Birthday (though that might not be much so after reading this),_

_Your Father,_

_Sky. "_

Malcolm's eyes widened and his hands shook as he finished reading the letter.

Slowly resting the letter down on the bedside table, he rose out of bed, carefully detangling himself from the sheets.

Heading straight for his walk-in closet, he felt around for the light switch.

As light flooded the closet, he opened a hidden door at the very back by holding his hand up to a scanner seemingly randomly placed at that part of the wall. The wall opened up to reveal the small, secret room where he stored his most prized possessions.

In that farthest corner sat a rather large, stuffed blue dinosaur.

"All this time... my favourite childhood toy came from him... And I never knew..." He lifted it up and ran his hands on the bottom, feeling the embroidery of his initials: M.A.Z.K. Malcolm Alan Zachary Klaus.

"Oh my god..." He sunk to the floor, holding the dinosaur close.

"George... you came to me from Sky... my father is Sky... why did I not see... Sky is... Oh my god... He's married to Bloom and he still was when I would have been born. Tatiana too... _Hooooooooooooooly_ crap, my mother, a Crown Princess, had an affair with a married king and that produced me and my sister... Oh my god..." His eyes widened and he felt himself beginning to panic at the mere thought.

He shook even more violently as the meaning sunk in.

"Okay, Malcolm. Breathe. Calm down. You can do this..." He stood up and put George away, locking the secret room and leaving the closet.

He got into bed and read the letter again several times, muttering to himself as he did.

After a while, he finally put the letter away and laid back down, though the sleepiness he had felt earlier was now long gone.

"Well..." Malcolm thought as he stared up at the ceiling. "It doesn't look like I'll be getting any sleep tonight... This morning rather..."

"I can't stay in this bed. I might as well get up and go make myself some hot chocolate..." He swung out of bed and walked slowly down the stairs.

"Sky is my father... Mine and Tatiana's father..." He stirred his large mug of hot chocolate that practically overflowed with marshmallows without really paying attention to it.

"I still can't believe this. What do I do now?!" He wondered. "I can't look at mom and Sky... my father... the same way again... I just can't..."


End file.
